Atmospheric aerosol particles from internal combustion engines
threaten human health and the environment [1–3]. Diesel
engines account for a major fraction of the particles emitted by
internal combustion engines. To meet strict emission regulations,
effective diesel after-treatment technology is necessary to reduce
PM emissions. NTP is a potential alternative technique for PM
removal [4] which offers high efficiency, simultaneous removal of
HC, NOx, PM [5–8], and does so with little back-pressure. The process
of PM removal involves PM oxidation in the plasma zone and
capture of PM by the collection plate in the NTP reactor. With PM
accumulation on the collection plate, the back corona phenomenon
causes re-entrainment, diminishing the PM removal efficiency [9–
11]. So the PM accumulated on the collection plate should be oxidized
(NTP regeneration) to maintain its performance. There is an
urgent need to understand PM oxidation behaviour and thermal
kinetics, and also, their correlations with physicochemical
properties.